A shipwreck, done using some beautiful, intricate models on a foamy seascape. An exotic island chock full of mystery, as well as beautifully created sets of flora and fauna that undoubtedly came in handy later. Cinematographer Henry W. Gerrard deserves special mention for the dramatic beauty of all the photography, which helps immeasurably in making the film still interesting. A damsel in distress, Fay Wray, who's very fetching and, mercifully, doesn't shriek much, and always does so decoratively, even when faced with the "fate worse than death" at the hands of Zaroff, who explains that one "never kills the female animal," but capturing her is a distinct perk after the hunt. Yes, being a pre-code film, Ms. Wray does appear in a wisp of a gown with a dangerously low décolleté throughout the movie. Of course, my thoughts turned to long contemplated idea for a thread entitled "why do girls have to be so dumb?" as I watched Fay mince through the jungle and frustratingly, not helping ol' Joel when he's about to be a snack for a starving Great Dane. Aaargh! A big bad guy, Leslie Banks, who as Count Zaroff, is not nearly as sympathetic as the big monkey, but who chews the scenery big-time to amusing effect. He also couches his idea of hunting human game around his little island fiefdom in more intellectual terms than the Kong ever could, comparing his Nietschean concepts with "outdoor chess". Watch out when the Count starts touching that scar on his forehead! Maybe I missed it due to early morning fog on my part, but in one scene, the Count mentions having vast and wealthy estates in the Crimea. Does anyone know how the Count was supposed to have escaped with his fortune intact from the Bolshevik Revolution?The Most Dangerous Game also has a few interesting differences with Kong:
A drunken comic relief character played by Robert Armstrong who's more annoying than entertaining. Believe me, you won't feel much of a pang when he shuffles off camera. It's interesting that Armstrong, having shown the severe limits of his acting in this movie, should've been awarded the ringmaster role in King Kong right after this. A real, noteworthy hero: Joel McCrea, who's much more likable than Bruce Cabot in King Kong. Ah, no, Joel's no great shakes in the acting department either, but he's notably easy on the eyes and his lack of technique enables him to underplay his noble hunter part to good effect. Really sinister henchmen to help the count, with the very ominous presence of Noble Johnson as a hulking, mute Russian, whose "smile" might make your blood run cold on the warmest summer morning. And don't miss the leer on the Eurasian guy's face when he's told to fetch Ms. Wray for the Count's delectation. And, yes, the movie's chock full of casual racism and sexism and, natch, the ethnocentric idea of a vigorous, clean American overcoming the decadent representative of Old World, (Zaroff)--but that's a given in films of this period. The film also has lifted some ideas from Richard Connell's short story that provided the basis of the film, touching on the ethics of hunting and the "fairness" of humans hunting animals. Interestingly, according to IMDb, this enduring tale has been told at least 9 times on film, including this first version. Max Steiner's score, which, unusually for an early talkie, actually plays throughout the film--admittedly at times a bit melodramatically--but the hunter's horn that is heard over the opening and closing credits is particularly effective and haunting. Producer David O. Selznick, an early believer in the use of music throughout sound movies, must've been partly responsible for its inclusion here, (sometimes annoyingly).Overall, I'd say that The Most Dangerous Game (1932) wasn't a great movie due, perhaps to the inability of the director to evoke more fully human performances from his actors, but it is certainly fascinating in itself as an exemplary creative studio entertainment, showing what can be achieved on a soundstage with imagination.
TCM is trotting out this very brief movie (only just over an hour long), again on Sept. 15th at 4:15AM EDT.
Wish they'd include it in an evening of Joel McCrea movies too, as well as a possible pairing with I the 1941 Fritz Lang version of Geoffrey Household's Man Hunt.
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